This invention relates to a data processing arrangement which is suitable for processing data representative of a two dimensional data array. The two dimensional array may be wholly synthetic in origin in that the data is deliberately organised into such an array to facilitate the further processing of it, or it may be derived from an imaging device such as a television camera which views a scene to produce an output which is inherently representative of the two dimensional scene, or further it may represent simply a two dimensional picture or photograph, or a display of the kind presented on a television monitor. The raw data may require further processing in order to extract from it information having a particular characteristic, or to modify the data in a special way, or in order to remove spurious matter which impairs the quality of the original information. For example, in the case of a television picture, it may be desired to filter out noise of a particular bandwidth. Alternatively, it may be necessary to process the data which is representative of a viewed scene so as to emphasise selected qualities or properties which are difficult to discern.
From the foregoing, it will be apparent that for a number of reasons, the processing of data derived from a two dimensional pattern is required. However, a processing operation of this nature presents special difficulties not only because of the very large amount of data which comprises a typical two dimensional array such as a television picture, but because the processing of each data element of the array depends not only on that element itself, but on the nature of surrounding or neighbouring or otherwise related elements. Although, in principle, powerful general purpose data processing arrangements can be organised or programmed to achieve the desired result, the processing power is necessarily large and the processing time needed to achieve the result can be unacceptably long. The time taken to process the information can be of great importance in certain circumstances. For example, the data to be processed may be generated during successive television frame periods and is therefore continually arriving for processing, i.e. the processing takes place in real time so as to keep pace with the rate at which new data is being generated. This requirement cannot be met in a practical manner by a general purpose processor, and although dedicated hard wired systems can perform a specific operation quickly, they have other disadvantages. For example, a dedicated processor is not versatile and cannot therefore be used readily to perform a modified operation which differs from that which it was designed to handle.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved data processing arrangement.